Custom returnUrl on Node.js Passport's Google strategy

Question

I\'m using Express and Passport OpenID Google strategy and I would like to set returnURL on each auth request to be able to return to the page that initiated that auth.

Answer 1

Wherever you have your login button, append the request's current URL as a query parameter (adjust for whatever templating system you use):

<a href='/auth/google?redirect=<%= req.url %>'>Log In</a>

Then, add middleware to your GET /auth/google handler that stores this value in req.session:

app.get('/auth/google', function(req, res, next) {
  req.session.redirect = req.query.redirect;
  next();
}, passport.authenticate('google'));

Finally, in your callback handler, redirect to the URL stored in the session:

app.get('/auth/google/callback', passport.authenticate('google',
  failureRedirect: '/'
), function (req, res) {
  res.redirect(req.session.redirect || '/');
  delete req.session.redirect;
});

Answer 2

Try res.redirect('back'); in the callback for passport.authenticate

Answer 3

According to the author this isn't possible with OpenID strategies. We managed to update these dynamically by directly accessing the variables:

app.get('/auth/google', function(req, res, next) {
  passport._strategies['google']._relyingParty.returnUrl = 'http://localhost:3000/test';
  passport._strategies['google']._relyingParty.realm = 'http://localhost:3000';
  passport.authenticate('google')(req, res, next);
});

Answer 4

I've figured this out for my apps Twitter authentication, I am sure that the GoogleStrategy is quite similar. Try a variant of this:

Assuming you have defined the route for the callback from the authentication service like so (from the passport guide):

app.get('/auth/twitter/callback',
  passport.authenticate('twitter', {
      successRedirect: authenticationRedirect(req, '/account')
    , failureRedirect: '/'
  })
);

Just change that block to this:

app.get('/auth/twitter/callback', function(req, res, next){
  passport.authenticate('twitter', function(err, user, info){
    // This is the default destination upon successful login.
    var redirectUrl = '/account';

    if (err) { return next(err); }
    if (!user) { return res.redirect('/'); }

    // If we have previously stored a redirectUrl, use that, 
    // otherwise, use the default.
    if (req.session.redirectUrl) {
      redirectUrl = req.session.redirectUrl;
      req.session.redirectUrl = null;
    }
    req.logIn(user, function(err){
      if (err) { return next(err); }
    });
    res.redirect(redirectUrl);
  })(req, res, next);
});

Now, define your middleware for authenticated routes to store the original URL in the session like this:

ensureAuthenticated = function (req, res, next) {
  if (req.isAuthenticated()) { return next(); }

  // If the user is not authenticated, then we will start the authentication
  // process.  Before we do, let's store this originally requested URL in the
  // session so we know where to return the user later.

  req.session.redirectUrl = req.url;

  // Resume normal authentication...

  logger.info('User is not authenticated.');
  req.flash("warn", "You must be logged-in to do that.");
  res.redirect('/');
}

Works!